Capital Football

Whole of football 2.0 is the updated national framework that guides how football and futsal are delivered across Aotearoa. This research backed framework builds on the existing Whole of Football framework working to ensure a delivery of football that is age appropriate, facilitates fun, skill development, opportunities and supports our leaders.

This framework evolves the way football and futsal are delivered to the more than 176,000 players who take part across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Whole of Football 2.0 has been introduced to better reflect research and international best practice. Among the changes are updated game formats and structures designed to foster a lifelong love of football and prioritise skill development from an early age.

Research shows that playing smaller formats of the game for longer significantly increases involvement in the game and touches on the ball for players which accelerates skill development, and better prepares participants for the transition to 11 vs 11 football a year later at the U14 age group.

New Zealand Football’s 3 year review, based on piloting the framework, shows that by going through the new Whole of Football 2.0 player pathway, players on average will accumulate over 3,800 more touches of the ball with goalkeepers more involved in the game, accumulating over 1,300 more goalkeeper actions.

Changes to the coach and referee development pathways focus on reducing duplication, expanding learning opportunities within the junior game, aligning outcomes across football and futsal, and strengthening digital tools to better connect and support volunteers, coaches, and referees.

A key priority is increasing the recruitment and support of female coaches and referees through female-only development opportunities, helping reduce the leadership gap between men and women in the game.

Player development programmes, quality of coaching and quality of officiating are all identified in Sport NZ’s Voice of Participant survey as key drivers that impact player experience. It is vital that we improve our coach and referee development systems to better support the education of the coach and referee community to have positive impacts on our playing participants.

New Zealand Football and the regional federations recognise that updates to the Whole of Football (WOF) guidance require clubs to adjust how junior football is delivered across the country. To support this transition, a phased implementation approach has been adopted to allow sufficient time for planning and adaptation at club level.

Implementation is being guided by the following principles:

Regionally led implementation, allowing flexibility to reflect local contexts
A phased rollout beginning from 2025
Full implementation targeted by 2027

Most federations are introducing these changes across the 2026 and 2027 football seasons.

Please get in contact for specific information about regional implementation timelines and support available.

Frequently Asked Questions

With smaller team numbers, we’re going to need more pitches to accommodate the increased number of teams but we don’t have the space for more pitches.

While there are an increased number of teams and therefore pitches, the actual green space needed to accommodate the pitch sizes has reduced with the new guidance. E.g. With U13 now being 9v9, you could play 2 games across half a full sized field with 36 players playing whereas under the previous guidance of 11v11, the same field would only accommodate 22 players. Federations and Clubs are encouraged to examine their current pitch set up to best utilise the field space they have.

What happens to dual age bands (e.g. U11/U12 that currently plays 9v9 but now plays 7v7 and 9v9 respectively) with the updated guidance?

Federations are encouraged to review the age groups that they currently dual age band to either change to single age band where appropriate or alter dual age banding to align with the new format progression, i.e.U10/U11 would be 7v7 and U12/U13 would be 9v9.

Who’s responsible for the cost of goals needed for the change in formats?

There will be centralised funding support from NZF and partners that will be distributed through our federations. This, however, will not cover 100% of the goal need costs and federations will work with their clubs and regional partners on ongoing options to support the change.

What type of goals are available?

NZF and federations are working with suppliers to ensure there is a range of goal types (including, portable, in-ground) and goal materials (including, aluminium, steel, plastic) so that federations and clubs have options that meet their local needs.

Will the retreating line be a part of the regs for U13’s?

Yes, the retreating line will now extend to include the U13 age group to prepare players for the current goal kick rules in the 11v11 game.

What does this mean for the Talent Development Programme (TDP) and Skills Centre (SKC) programmes?

NZF will undertake a project of work during 2025 to evolve the TDP and SKC programmes in line with the updated WOF 2.0 guidance as well as NZF’s High Performance and Talent Plan.

How do clubs store the additional goals that are needed?

Goal storage is approached in many different ways across the country. We encourage clubs to meet with their federations and councils if goal storage is an issue to come up with regional and local solutions.